The Collector

“Turn around.”
“Sir?”
“I said, turn around! Is there something wrong with your hearing?”
“Are we returning to Battery City, sir?”
“No,” Korse sneered, “we’re going back to the hospital.”
“Yes, sir.”

The draculoid driving took a moment to inform the accompanying draculoids on motorbikes of the change in plan before turning the car in a wide circle to avoid hitting the bikes as they turned also. As they began driving at speed back along the long straight highway, the driver addressed the Exterminator once more.

“I’m not doubting you, sir, but I’m curious as to...”
“You want to know why?”
“If I may, sir.”
“The Killjoys are still there, that’s why.”
“How do you know, sir?” The draculoid asked, somewhat nervously.
“A number of things,” he replied calmly, to the draculoid’s relief. “We know that the porno droid stopped for a short time at those coordinates and left an hour ago. However, the doctor said that Fielding left not more than ten minutes ago, at roughly the same time as the Killjoys. He’s lying. If Fielding didn’t leave with the porno droid, then she’s still there. We also know that the Killjoys were in the building when the android self-destructed. You saw the condition of that building. The idea that they all escaped without injury is unlikely to say the least. No, they’re still there all right but they believe we have left.”
“We have the element of surprise?”
“Indeed we do,” Korse’s sneer widened.

*

Party paced back and forth outside the door to the makeshift operating room. Lighting another cigarette, he took a long draw before heaving a sigh.

“What?” He turned a questioning stare at Jet, who was sitting on an old padded bench seat.
Jet was leaning forward with his hands clasped and elbows on his knees whilst looking up at the clearly distressed man.
“Party,” Jet offered a sympathetic frown. “Sit down, man.”
“I can’t,” Party grumbled, rubbing his neck. “You know me better than that.”
“I got some stuff to tell you,” Jet continued.
“And you need me to sit down for that?”
“I don’t need you to, but you might want to.”
“I don’t,” Party replied, drawing again on the cigarette as if it was giving him the strength to keep going. A few moments later, he turned a worried frown towards Jet. “Why?”
“It’s about Kobra.”
“What about him?” Party displayed an increasingly concerned expression.
“He knows about Korse,” Jet replied quietly. “Well, we all do.”
“What about Korse?” Party replied carefully.
“That he killed your dad and...”

Party paled as Jet added the ‘and’.

“... and he’s your uncle.”

Party nodded stiffly; there wasn’t much point denying it. Finishing his cigarette, he threw it to the floor before crushing it underfoot. Jet suppressed his frown at the action, and resisted the urge to remind his friend that they were in a hospital, however dilapidated.

“How did he find out?” Party asked quietly.
“He remembered.”
“Damn!” Party kicked a chair in frustration and watched as it skittered noisily across the floor. “I knew it was a risk when he saw me have that nightmare.”
“Nightmare?” Jet questioned.
“I’ve been having nightmares about it since I was ten. When we were in Hart’s museum, I had one, waking up from whatever Candi gave me to knock me out. Kobra heard everything. It probably jarred the memory loose.”
“Ghoul’s blaming himself, you know?”
“Why?” Party’s brow furrowed in confusion. “There was nothing he could do about it, he was in the next cell.”
“No, not then,” Jet shook his head. “Just before he remembered, Ghoul referred to him as ‘Snake Boy’. It seemed to be the trigger.”

Party laughed sadly and shook his head. Immediately, his happier childhood memories flooded his mind and he remembered the superhero games he would play with his brother as Ray Gun Jones and Snake Boy. His expression turned pained as he remembered once more that they were playing one of those games when their father was murdered.

“It’s not Ghoul’s fault,” he shook his head again as he tipped another cigarette from the pack. “Smoke?” He offered the pack to Jet, who shook his head. “Besides, it’s actually my fault. I should have told him years ago, but I thought I was protecting him. I’ve always protected him, since we were kids. I let him down badly after Korse killed our dad. I couldn’t stop them torturing him until he forgot almost everything. I promised I would protect him. I think, maybe I forgot to stop.”
“That’s a lot to carry around, Party,” Jet replied softly.
“Yeah, but I had Ghoul to get me through it. Who’s gonna be there for Kobra except me?”
“I will,” Red replied from the corner where the corridor crossed another.

Party rubbed his forehead as he pondered how best to phrase his reply. He wouldn’t normally censor his thoughts but he wasn’t in the mood for an argument.

“No offence, but Kobra needs someone steady in his life, not just someone passing through.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Red replied.

Her intention was to sound reassuring but Party heard it as an arrogant statement. Shaking his head and frowning as a small cloud of plaster dust surrounded his head like a halo, Party chuckled unpleasantly.

“Well, that’s not really up to you, is it?” He added, settling the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.
“Hey, Party, ease up,” Jet frowned. “It’s not just your decision either!”
“I knew it!” Party announced, taking the cigarette into his fingers once more and pointing with it towards Jet. “I knew when you were defending her in the diner. You’re banging her, aren’t you?”
“No!” Jet cried, horrified at the idea. “Party, she’s my sister!” He added, visibly disturbed by Party’s accusation.
“Your sister!” Party gasped.

Perhaps they had forgotten that only the android version of Party had known. Or perhaps it was simply that they had all grown so used to the knowledge that Party’s reaction was so surprising to them.

“Wow, are you off base!” Red laughed. “He’s my brother!” Tilting her head thoughtfully, she added with a cheeky smirk: “Your brother on the other hand...” she left the words hanging.
“Scarlet!” Jet’s eyes widened at the suggestive implication.
“What? You said he had a reputation!” She grinned. “It’s well deserved by the way.”
“I can’t believe this!” Jet fumed. “I’m gonna kill him!”
“Consenting adults, Ray! Back off!” Red scowled.
“When did you even... We haven’t...” Jet stammered.
“At Kami’s; we woke Ghoul apparently,” she chuckled.
“Ghoul knew?” Jet’s face began to darken as another thought came to him. “Ghoul watched!”
“Wait!” Party interrupted, his expression one of bewilderment and his hands gesturing for them to stop and explain. “Scarlet? Red’s your sister and she’s...? When the fuck did all this happen?”
“When you were ten,” Red grinned.
“What?” Party frowned.
“You’re not helping, Red,” Jet snapped.
“Okay, let me explain,” she grinned. “My birth name is Scarlet Toro, Jet is my brother, I changed my name to Red Star, Kobra and I are dating and...”
“Don’t!” Jet warned.
“I wasn’t!” Red laughed in reply. “And... I met Mikey originally when he was my karate tutor at BLI. You know, while you and Ghoul were taking ballet together.”
Party sagged and flopped down next to Jet on the bench seat.
“Did I miss anything, Jet?”
“No,” he replied quietly. “No, I think that’s everything,” he added stiffly, glancing at Party and trying to gauge his reaction.
“Do we have any secrets left, Jet?” Party asked taking a long draw on his cigarette. “Any at all?”
“Not one,” Jet replied with a quiet laugh.
“So, who’s gonna kill Kobra first, you or me?” Party asked Jet. “I assume it was him that told you about the ballet?” He addressed Red this time.
“No,” she smiled back, “it was Ghoul, actually.
“Okay,” Party nodded as he turned to Jet. “That makes it easier. You kill Kobra and I kill Ghoul. Then I guess it’s just you and me.”
“And me,” Red added brightly.
“I don’t suppose I could...?” Party raised an eyebrow and, pointing at Red, he smirked at Jet.
“No,” Jet shook his head. “I think if anyone’s gonna kill her, it really ought to be me.”
“Well, you first, at least.” Party agreed.
“And third.” Jet nodded in return.
“Oh, you guys!” Red grinned at their banter.

Both Party and Jet looked up at the cheerfully grinning woman in front of them. Without knowing the circumstances of their realisation, it would have been easy for Party to be suspicious of the revelation, but somehow he knew it to be genuine. There had been an air about how the pair interacted that was familiar to him; now he knew why. Placing the cigarette back in his mouth, he slapped Jet lightly on the back.

“So, a sister?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s the other thing,” Jet beamed. “I got all my memories back.”
“I missed a lot!” Party nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Hey!” Kobra’s voice piped in cheerily as he rounded the corner.

Party looked up sharply, offering a broad smile of relief toward Kobra. He walked with a slight limp and there were a few scratches and bruises visible, but no other obvious problems.

“How are you doing, kiddo?”
“Doc said I have a slight sprain in my right ankle, but otherwise I’m fine. Oh, and he removed the governor from my neck.”
“The what?” Party’s eyes widened. “Seriously, how much stuff have I missed?”
“Hart put a device in his neck to cause pain if he defied her.” Jet explained. “Think she was afraid of him.”
“But she didn’t with me or Ghoul. Or did she?” Party frowned, unsure if he was unaware of the implant, putting his fingers tentatively to his neck.
“No,” Kobra shook his head. “It was the martial arts thing she was scared of. Besides, she wouldn’t hurt Ghoul. She wanted Ghoul.”
“What? Wanted, wanted?” Party raised an eyebrow. “I hope he disappointed her.”
“Very much so,” Kobra grinned.

Jet got to his feet and sneaked a conspiratorial glance at Party before offering Kobra a smile and waving for him to take his seat.

“So, I guess there’s no running or martial arts for you for a while?” He asked.
“No, just limping around for a few days, I guess,” Kobra replied, settling himself.
“We should probably get a watch going. Don’t you think, Jet?” Party suggested
“Good idea!” Jet grinned. “Red, why don’t you take first watch? We can bring Kobra up to speed on everything that’s been happening here.”
“I... oh, but...” Red’s brow creased in concern as she looked at the darkly mischievous expressions on both Jet and Party’s faces.
“Yeah, Red.” Party agreed. “I can’t, I want to wait to see how Ghoul is.”
“And I have a few little things I need to chat to Kobra about,” Jet added.
“I doubt there’s much going on out there, Red, just really hot,” Kobra nodded, oblivious to the earlier conversation. “You’ll be fine.” He smiled.
“Fine,” she sighed, turning a ‘don’t you dare’ glance at Jet, only to receive a small wave and a smirk in reply.

*

“This has to be the luckiest man alive,” Fielding commented as she removed her gloves before discarding them.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Harrison shrugged as he did the same. “His friends came out of it with barely a scratch.”
“Well, yes, if you look at it that way. I’m just thinking of all the places that spike could have hit him, to only tear the skin and not even nick a muscle, never mind an organ. I’d say that was very lucky.”
“Yeah,” Harrison nodded. “Could have been a lot worse.”
“Let’s give them the good news.”
“At least they’ve stopped yelling at each other now,” Harrison rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t they have gone somewhere else to do that?”
“They’ve been through a lot,” Fielding defended them. “They’re just blowing off steam.”
“I don’t care! They should do it somewhere else,” Harrison frowned.
“Never were much of a people person, were you, Chris?” Fielding laughed.
“I prefer straight research, none of this patient crap and definitely not their friends and families.”
“Not the ideal job for you then, this?”
“I’ll take what I can get.”
“Chris, why did you leave BLI?” Fielding asked.
“Because they were about to kill me, Chlo. I thought we’d established that already?”
“Yes, but why were they?”
“Do they need a reason?”
“Yes, they do,” Fielding pressed, surprised by the cagey responses. “They might be evil, but they always have reasons for what they do.”
“I refused to try to develop a biological weapon for them.”
“What sort of weapon?”
“Something that alters people’s DNA,” he shrugged, looking away as he spoke the words. “They wanted to add it to the drugs people were taking. It would make people solely reliant on BLI if it worked. They’d be sterile if they didn’t continue with the drugs.”
“So anyone who disagreed with them would still have to take the drugs if they wanted children?” Fielding gasped.
“And the children would be born needing the drugs. If you stop taking them, that’s the end of the line for you.”
“That’s appalling!”
“Yeah, well, when we refused, they couldn’t risk us telling anyone, so we were all sentenced to the fourth level of death. I got away only because I managed a hefty bribe, but they’ll probably try again, Chlo. This doesn’t go away just because we refused.”
“Is it even possible?” Fielding asked.
“Now, that, I don’t know. It was still at the early stages of R&D.”
“Terrifying,” Fielding shook her head. “Let’s hope they never manage it.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Anyway, let’s tell them about Ghoul before they start yelling again.”

Notes

Hello, my lovely readers. I hope you enjoyed the last 2 or 3 chapters. That’s the nice thing about a Christmas/New Year break - lots of time for writing! Anyway, it’s back to uni now, so updates will be a bit slower, but no more so than usual.

Hope you all have a wonderful 2018!!

Sas xx